A Conservative No More

PATRICK J. BUCHANAN’S impending departure from the Republican party is attracting interest as the only surprise of the political season. The real surprise is that it took him so long. It has been clear for some time that Buchanan’s ideological wanderings have taken him far from the heartland of the Republican party and the conservative movement. As early as 1992, William McGurn was warning in these pages that while Buchanan described his presidential campaign as a “theological debate,” “many a voice that starts off promising reformation finds itself swept along into schism.”

Buchanan’s intellectual fellow travelers certainly foresaw the possibility of such a schism; indeed, they egged it on. In a March 1996 column, Samuel Francis wrote that he had been telling Buchanan for years that his “refusal to break even more definitely with a more conventional conservative identity and with the Republican Party … is a serious error.” Buchanan’s identification as a Republican and a conservative, Francis continued, “dilutes and deflects the radicalism of the message.”

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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PATRICK J. BUCHANAN’S impending departure from the Republican party is attracting interest as the only surprise of the political season. The real surprise is that it took him so long. It has been clear for some time that Buchanan’s ideological wanderings have taken him far from the heartland of the Republican party and the conservative movement. As early as 1992, William McGurn was warning in these pages that while Buchanan described his presidential campaign as a “theological debate,” “many a voice that starts off promising reformation finds itself swept along into schism.”

Buchanan’s intellectual fellow travelers certainly foresaw the possibility of such a schism; indeed, they egged it on. In a March 1996 column, Samuel Francis wrote that he had been telling Buchanan for years that his “refusal to break even more definitely with a more conventional conservative identity and with the Republican Party … is a serious error.” Buchanan’s identification as a Republican and a conservative, Francis continued, “dilutes and deflects the radicalism of the message.”